Any advice on getting tired baby to sleep during the day?

[Tabs]

DD now 9 1/2 weeks old. Virtually didn't sleep for first 6 weeks, but following visits to cranial osteopath she is now much more settled. She's managed to go for 8 hours overnight 3 times in the last week, so quite pleased with this.

She wakes nice and happy in the mornings, has a feed, some play, tops up with another feed and then has another nap. All this takes us to about 10am ish usually.

The problem is that during the day she then gets very tired once she's been up for about 1.5hrs, but can't settle to sleep. Even if I get her asleep on my lap after a feed, or by cuddling her, she then almost always wakes up when I put her down, no matter where I try to put her (moses basket, cot, pushchair) or how gently I do it.

Have tried leaving her to cry, but if she hasn't quietened down after a few minutes then we have learned that she won't at all, and can sob her heart out and scream hysterically for endless amounts of time.

Sometimes it takes 2 hours to get her to settle, and sometimes I give up and let her sleep for an hour or two whilst having a cuddle - not very helpful for me getting things done!

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to settle her more quickly when she is obviously tired?

We do frequently have the same problem settling her at night, but it doesn't seem so bad when she then sleeps for 6-8 hrs!

I used to go out ad about as much as possible and then when ds had fallen asleep in the oushcahir leave him in the garden so I could get things done. Hth

Pushing round the block in the pushchair? then when she's asleep you don't have to move her.

wrap her in a blanket before you start cuddling her to sleep, them just plop her in the cot in the blanket, don't loosen it or take it off.

HTH

I recommend a sling, makes life much easier imo - I also like abed on wheels - they can get a diversity of sleep mechanisms then.

A sling is great, my ds is a bad sleeper but even he would consent to sleep in the sling after a while. Can you take her out in the pram and then bring her home once asleep? (I couldn't do this with mine as we lived in a second floor flat then, argh).

Swaddling also fantasic for a difficult sleeper, esp as the weather isn't too hot right now.

In honesty, when my ds was your dd's age, we used to just take it turns having him sleeping on us, night and day. But dh was at home too (and frankly welcomed any baby-related chore that involved getting some kip himself), otherwise there's no way I could have done it.

It may be a question of putting her down awake, and catching her before she gets too tired - as the Baby Whisperer suggests, but I have never been able to fathom. At 10 months, ds is having another spate of doing all of his naps on a parent, I don't think my example is the best to follow!

Tabs, where does she have her morning nap before 10am?

Every child is different of course, but my DS settled into a routine of waking from morning nap by 9.45/10am, then we aimed for play and a feed at about 11am, and he had his big 2 hour nap in his cot by 12noon. This carried on until he was two years old, he always had an early lunch at about 11.30am then had his nap till 2ish.

So maybe feed nearer 11 if she can hold out till then so you are trying to puther down on a nice full tummy. Definitely the putting down awake thing is the thing to aim for, she then learns to settle herself so isn't shocked to 'come to' and find herself alone!

I also swaddled DS and he seemed to love the 'secure' feeling - do you do this?

However my honest opinion is don't struggle - I did this with my DS because he fell into the routine happily - it was not a struggle (except the odd 'off' day!) so I think try things till you find what works and go with that. No point trying to force babies into anything as you know!

The only thing that would be a mistake I think, is giving up on the mid day nap altogether - just keep trying and I'm sure you'll find a way.

As well as the swaddling, I have found that with ds2 (8 weeks), once he is lying in the moses basket, holding my hands over his eyes to block out any visual stimulation really works. I know it sounds daft, but it's worked for both of mine, so maybe give it a go! Also make sure the room is as dark as you can get it.

Thanks for the suggestions so far ladies. We do swaddle her at night, and sometimes during the day too. Although there doesn't seem to be consistency between being swaddled or not and whether she will nap during the day, in general I would say that it does help her to sleep.

Sparklemagic - she has her early morning nap in her moses basket in our bedroom. This was where we were trying to put her for all naps until a couple of weeks ago, when by chance we discovered that she seemed to be just as happy/happier napping in daylight with background household noise downstairs! Ideally we would like her to settle in her cot in her nursery, so that she gets used to it in plenty of time for when she moves in there properly. The nursery has shutters, but doesn't get as dark as our bedroom.

I haven't tried taking her out for walks in pushchair much so far because of weather, but that should be getting more possible now spring is allegedly here! DH did manage to settle her this way today, but on his way back a load of motorbikes were out on a cross country run (we live countryside in middle of nowhere!) and woke her again, and then it took another hour or so to settle her again!

Toothyboy - I did actually try the hand over the eyes thing but that was a few weeks ago before we saw the osteopath, when she wasn't sleeping at all. I guess I could give it a go again.

Keep the ideas coming ladies!

Tabs

Have you tried baby massage?. There are some good techniques you can learn for getting babys very relaxed after a nice warm bath, They almost doze as you massage them. I found it very theraputic for me as well!! It also helps them with colic, etc. I would recommend you seek proper classes tho because massage needs to be taught and demonstrated so you know your doing it properly. There may be classes locally to you?

Good luck

You can use a sling inside the house and outdoors it really helps.

stoppinattwo - yes, I am doing a massage course with DD, which she seems to enjoy. Our first 8 hour sleep came after I had given her one in the afternoon! My h/v put us forward for it because of her colic.

We've been out too much over the weekend to try out any new techniques during the day, but I have amazingly enough managed to put her down semi-awake after big feeds at night, and she has settled herself! Took her 15 mins or so, but no crying during that time. Ironically I actually left one of her arms out of the swaddling both times, so that she wouldn't fight against it!

Might try the same technique during the day tomorrow, when I think we have a quiet day in.

I forgot to comment on the sling suggestion before. I have a carrier rather than a sling, but I guess that isn't so condusive to sleep. My concern about slings is the strain on my back, as the weight isn't evenly supported. I already carry excess weight plus HUGE norks, and worry that a 13lb baby on top of that could be too much. I think a couple of my friends have slings though, so perhaps I will see if I can give one of theirs a go and see how it feels.